THERE’S no doubt who’s the big cheese around San Carlo throughout November. The iconic Italian restaurant in King Street West has teamed up with Grana Padano, one of Italy’s most celebrated cheese producers to create a unique menu.
ToM has been having delicious cheese dreams ever since sampling three dishes from this decadent dairy extravaganza on your behalf:
- • Winter risotto ai Funghi Porcini – a fabulous porcini mushroom risotto for two, served at the table in a wheel of Grana Padano cheese
- • Gnocco Croccante – crispy gnocchi in a Grana Padano sauce with fresh black truffle
- Gnocchi Gorgonzola in an edible Grana Padano Cheese Basket – this time the gnocchi are in a blue cheese sauce, served in a basket made from Grana Padano cheese.
The latter may well count as the ultimate cheese dish – a perfect autumn restorative, we think. No time to start counting the calories.
San Carlo Group MD Marcello Distefano agrees: “Autumn has arrived, the days are shorter and colder, there’s no better time to eat great, warming food and celebrate Grana Padano cheese, one of Italy’s finest ingredients,” he told us.
“We’re thrilled to have just been named *Britain’s best Italian Restaurant Business. Twenty five years since it all began I have to look to our Chairman - my father Carlo’s philosophy, which remains unchanged – it’s all about having passion for great ingredients and putting food on the plate we would want to eat, that’s what this menu is all about.”
One of Italy’s most famous cheeses, Grana Padano is a hard, versatile artisan cheese. Granted PDOstatus in 1996, it was created by the Cistercian monks of Chiaravalle in the 12th century and is made throughout the Po Valley region (Lombardy, Piedmont, Trentino and Veneto) in northern Italy.
Made from unpasteurised, semi-skimmed cow’s milk from the production area and aged for a minimum of nine months, as Grana Padano ages, the flavours become pronounced, savoury and complex and the texture becomes more crumbly.
The San Carlo Group owns and operates 17 leading Italian restaurants in the UK – the Grana Padano menu is available now and throughout November at all their ‘San Carlo’ branded restaurants.
San Carlo, 40-42 King Street West, Manchester, M3 2WY. 0161 834 6226.